Reviews by roadhouse:

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Almost tart, perfectly mellow with a back-end of alcohol. When I'm not skiing the Alps, I always try to let it warm. This reminded me of a candied apple; this beer was incredibly good, especially with time. One day, this will come in a bomber for $50 and we will all be pissed.

Appearance  This one was orange and both glowed in the dark and was heavily murky at the same time. There was actually even a light head to this one.

Smell  The big, raunchy wine aroma is soaked in huge prunes. The booze is big as well. The grapes though are not to be outdone. They are white and grape-juicy.

Taste  Oh, God, is this thing got some big flavors. Man, you can barely sip it. The prune juice is just monstrous and the booze, although super smooth, is large as well. The white grapes are really big, too.

Whenever I partake of an EBW, I always pay particular attention to the sweetish flavors that are present. Here they arent sugary per se but thick, syrupy, and pruney. Lastly, the French Calvados casks imposed a light presence of wood, just enough to add a new dimension to the experience. It all worked together more like a fine tawny port than anything else.

Mouthfeel  This is close to full-bodied and super full in its flavor. It is one of the most flavorful ales that Ive ever had. I cant begin to explain how the sweetish grape and prune flavors just explode on the palate.

Drinkability  This was a real treat to drink. It is exciting, explosive, and sure to spur an hour-long discussion among beer advocates.

A: A medium amber with a deep orange hue and good clarity. The are only a few bubbles that quickly fade leaving a swirl of tiny, hardly there bubbles floating around the beer.

S: There is that rich malt of a barley wine with a sharp oak and brandy aroma. There is a light bit of an aroma that reminds me of a hard cider. The alcohol is soft and some what floral. There is a light bit of the rasin aroma in a Barleywine but not as much as most usually have.

T: Malty and sweet with a moderate oak flavor that bring a fair amount of vanilla and a touch of cinnamon flavors. The calvados becomes a bit more evident in the finish as the malt goes away leaving the alcohol warmth to mingle with the apple-brandy notes. There isn't much in the the way of hops flavors and just a light hops bitterness. The balance is strong towards the malt sweetness and the finish is sweet as well.

2003 vintage, small 750 ml bottle, served slightly chilled into a Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale snifter. Pours a clear, glistening, topaz amber body that exhibits lively carbonation. Small, offwhite head is tightknit and persistent, eventually falling into a collar with an extensive draping of sheet lace. The appearance is divine.

Aroma begins with a sharp note of Calvados apple brandy. Calvados is a fine French brandy that is both expensive and difficult to find. It is excellent to cook with, but I don't really care to drink it. The aroma also features freshly sliced McIntosh apples, some raisins, and some toffee and butterscotch maltiness. The alcoholic brandy notes are dominant all the way through, and some peppery spice notes are also in play.

Mouthfeel is slick and full bodied. Smooth, but there is an alcohol bite that is peppery.

The taste is dominated by the Calvados, much more so than expected. Significant alcohol warming is present throughout. Malt notes include raisins, toffee, and butterscotch, with caramel coming on toward the finish. A pleasant earthy/woodsy character emerges at room temperature. Pepper accents are definitely noted, but I'm not certain if they derive from the hops or the alcohol. Very vinous and brandy-like, much more so than any other J.W. Lees product I've tried.

Surprisingly close to Calvados in taste and character. This one is definitely a slow sipper that would be ideal in front of the fireplace on a cold winter night. Very warming. Interesting how a beer acquires the higher alcohol and flavors of the spirit that previously was aged in the same wooden cask. At a price of over $8.00 for this small bottle, I think I will pass on this one next time, though I'm likely to try the other cask aged Harvest Ales that Lees offers. For value, stick with their more pedestrian ales which have a higher drinkability and the same superb quality. The Calvados is so pervasive in this one that it renders it somewhat one dimensional.

2009 version. Pours hazy, orange-brown in color, with heavy sediment and no head. Taste is dried stone fruit, toffee, wood, nut, and perhaps peanut butter. Tasty, different from the other JW Lees beers I have had. Not sure if I would get this one again. Perhaps I would try it with less aging, however this one is still good.

T: Like nothing I ever had before! I was amazed at how you can blend the apple brandy and barleywine flavor into one. It was very obvious where this beer was aged, but it's not a fruit beer. This is a barleywine at it's core.

M: Low carbonation, thick, but dry (if that makes sense!)

O: If this wasn't so hard to find, and so expensive, I'd drink it all the time!

2004 vintage. Pours oily copper with no head, only a ring of sparse bubbles. No lacing. Perfume and alcoholic aroma, very floral with a heap of honey. Lots of oak and berries, not as vinuous as expected. Super-sweet taste. Sugary and fruity; white grapes, raisins, plums, and boysenberries. A fair amount of dark rum flavor to go with the oak. Didn't really get the spice others were finding. Long finish. Denser mouthfeel with the minimal carbonation, kind of sticky towards the end. Drank more like a dessert wine/appertif than a beer.

This is a 2010 bottle, so it's got 5 years on it. This is my first review, and I likely don't really have a masterful grasp of the language and nuanced palate/nose etc. But here goes.

The look of it is a nice, mildly reddish...deepish brown.

The aroma is just...lovely. I believe I am picking up sort of a wet, kind of dank wood. Raisiny. Something about JW Lees always makes me think of something leathery. This one is no different. The same thing could be said of some sort of nut shell...like pecan shells maybe. Especially pronounced in the regular Harvest Ale, but it is very detectable here.

Ahhh yes...the flavor is much, much closer to the regular Harvest Ale than the Lagavulin aged one. I love the Lagavulin, but this is so much more savory tasting. Much less sweet seeming. The flavors I am getting are very much in tune with the nose. Raisiny, leathery, pecan shells....some sort of other dark fruit in addition to the raisiny-ness.

Mouth feel is quite nice. Slightly thick, and wonderfully coating. It has just a bit of carbonation.

Overall, I am extremely happy with this one. It's rich and sweet, but has more of a dark, savory flavor than the Lagavulin. It's absolutely lovely. I am so pleased I was able to get hold of a bottle of this. JW Lees Harvest Ale remains my favorite (in my somewhat limited experience) in production beer to date.

*extra- this one had a modest amount of sediment. I drank it, like a shot. Wonderfully dank and...smile making

Shared 2008 bottle. Cask sample in 2017.
Clear body looks like whisky but with a good light tan head.
Very sweet up front but more moderate by the finish.
Sweet malty aroma with more complexity in the flavor. More boozy and not a good as the sherry version.

Tastes good. Sweet and sticky caramel malt flavors up front run the show and are joined periodically by medium fruit flavors. Also underlying it all is a mild earthiness that keeps the malt sweetness from being over the top. The ending is decidedly sweet.

Mouthfeel is good. It's got a smooth thickness with soft carbonation.

Drinkability is good. I split the bottle but could polish one off myself.

Overall I have to be honest and say I didn't know what Calvados was and couldn't tell 100% from the beer however now it makes perfect sense. The third one I've had (besides Laguvalin and Port) and my least favorite, but even so it's still a good beer and worth a shot.

The pour produces absolutely no head, and the liquid flows from the bottle like thick maple syrup, at least in color and appearance. The body is repleted with floating yeast that muddies it's dark copper and brown color. Carbonation bubbles stick to the sides of the glass and occasionally work their way upwards. This is by no means a pretty looking beer.

Oak and sherry dominate the aroma. In a blind test, I'd be forgiven for thinking this was a sherry or port. Beneath the sharp spicy pungent smell lies a sweet, caramel-like character.

My first taste of the beer seems to not offer much in the way of variation from the nose---there's still strong oaken and sherry notes---but the back of my palate gets a blast of caramel and chocolate. The chocolate flavor is rich and lingers on the tongue. Some warming does wonders for this beer too as I start to get a smoky, tobacco-like taste that is quite agreeable.

This drinks like a port or sherry, thick, viscous, almost syrupy. There's not a sign of carbonation and the liquid coats the tongue and seems to stick there. Many of the flavors linger towards the finish.

This is mighty tasty as it warms up. I really enjoyed it and appreciated that I could slowly sip it like a harder liquor, savoring it for over an hour.

Pours out with a muddy amber and golden coloration. Thin, swirley white bubbles and foam create mostly a bubbly ring around the edge.

The aroma is most unique, an apricot, dates and maple syrup combo is pretty inticing. Sweet malt, maple syrup and dense fruits all over. A classic English old leather and antique oak furniture aroma comes from the house yeast and cask aging. Grandma's spice racK , smoke and freshly baked dark wheat bread. Cinnemon and black pepper pop out later.

The taste of sugar coated dates with maple syrup dominate the palate. The flavor is intense and very, very sweet. A bitter, earthy and tangy edge rolls in soon from the English hops. Black pepper, oak cask, vanilla, maple syrup and more sweet fruity dates makes this complexity high, but dominated by sweetness. The malt is unique with these flavor's, dense and heady but perhaps....too heady? Is that possible? Perhaps a bit more hop kick to balance the sweetness out?
The light, earthy effect becomes bitter and dry very quickly. ...really the only true balance found with the big and sweet malt. Slightly boozy cask, woody and sweet , adds further depth to an already devilish complexity. 11.5 % with a quick, boozy heat tingle and, ever-so-long Port wine boozy punch with a sicky-sweet dense finish.

The mouthfeel is about as "full" and thick as you can get. Slick, malty, sticky and only slightly dry. It literally feels and tastes like light-golden maple syrup is poured into the liquid at the last minute.

Overall, this one is very difficult to rate by points. Much like the first time you have a 120 Minute IPA by Dogfish Head, your not sure if it really falls into any one style. J.W Lee's Harvest ale on Calvados cask just jumps out of any style, becoming some freak of brewing. Although closely related to the English Barleywine, clearly this one goes off in a strange but interesting direction. As a beer geek that enjoys "out there" and extreme aspects to beer, I must say, this one is pretty far "out there" for any style. I will say, although very deep and complex the malt and sweetness just goes a bit too far off the hindges. With slightly more hop balance I see a classic brew. Perhaps in 10 to 20 years of cellering, this one might hit the palate just right.

Pours blood thick with no head. A slightly hazy brown with a slight orange tint. No head at all. Smell is of meat and major malts. Taste pretty much follows. To me this is the least overpowering of the cask series. Taste is of a ton of malts and dark sugars. Very meaty with super dark fruits. Sugary as hell, and sweet, sweet, sweet. Mouthfeel is very thick and viscous. As far as drinkability, the sugar and mouthfeel defenitely make this one a sipper. Another good one from JW lees. But I still say nothing beats the good old harvest ale.

My starting points here are divergent, and thus my expectations are as well.
In comparison to the Lagavulin cask, this is a triumph of epic proportions. But the original Harvest Ale still fares worse due to cask aging.
Pitches forth a bright and shimmering, deep nectarous golden. Topped with an actual head! One of foamy whitened mauve.
Apples are foremost on the nose, but distilled and full of flame. Honey shoots out around the edges.
Begins sweet, but not titanically so. It's approachably cloying. Full of raw, thick honey, dates, raisins, and brown sugar. Jellied pineapple appears later on. Butter is added in browned form. A big apple tidal wave essentially destroys the maltiness in favor of its own desire for domination. Hot now. Boozy, ferocious, and searing. But reprieve is given at the end. Baked greasy cheese, buttered apple stems, and traces of actual leafy hops.
Full bodied. Fat, portly, and rotund. Levity is hinted at, but never fully achieved. But in comparison to that "other" Barreled Harvest Ale, this is quite potable.
This one is worth aging, as promise oozes slowly outward. It's way too raw and firesome now. But there is hope.

An interesting malty, slightly sour barleywine. Pours cloudy orangey with little head. Above average mouthfeel. A fine glass with or after a meal as you would a fortified wine. A bit drying.Alcohol and citrus and port aroma. ABove average for the style.